Fire broke out onboard Maharaja Agrasen; one dead

Representational image

In a major fire which broke out onboard Maharaja Agrasen, one person died while two others are critically injured. The incident took place on 13th of April at 9.30 in the evening onboard Maharaja Agrasen which is a crude oil tanker.

An officer said, "The reason is still unclear as to why this happened but we came to know that the initial cause may be a short circuit. A fire may have broken inside one of the chambers."

Soon after the incident, the three injured were taken to Masina hospital for medical treatment. On 15th of April, Prakash Patyal who was a chief engineer from Karnataka succumbed to injuries. The other two are still in Intensive Care Unit and have been identified as Subhash Ravthan who is the second engineer and hails from Uttarakhand and Tejo Charuvilayal who is a resident of Kalyan.

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On 9th of April, this tanker arrived near Buchar island and on the evening of April 13, it was anchored near jetty number-4 to transfer the oil from the tanker. The ship had arrived from Saudi Arab port with crude oil.

While talking to mid-day, Nishith Mishra Additional commissioner of police (South region) said, "We have registered a case of Accidental Death Record (ADR) and have initiated an inquiry into the matter. The ship belongs to the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI)."

At present, the ship is anchored at about 15 nautical miles in the deep sea.

Mishra added that they will have to visit the ship to find out the cause of the fire. There is around 90,000 tonne of oil in that ship and there were a total of 39 crew members on the ship when the incident occurred.

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